Scribd, the subscription e-book service, has acquired Librify, a subscription e-book and social reading platform launched in 2014 that also offers e-book retailing.
Librify launched with a partnership with mass market retailer Target. For $6.99 a month, Librify subscribers received free access to one e-book each month recommended by Target, and could purchase the rest of Librify’s inventory of about 1 million e-books at a discount of 10% to 20% off list price. An early version of the subscription e-book model, Librify combined Target-recommended, discounted e-books with a social reading platform that enabled users to meet online and discuss, list and share the books they were reading.
Asked if Librify’s acquisition included the partnership with Target, a Scribd spokesperson declined to comment. For the last two years Librify has teamed with BookExpo America to organize the Startup Challenge at BEA, a competition in which book-oriented new ventures show off their business models and technology to a jury of technology experts and venture capitalists.
“Scribd offers the ideal platform for Librify to realize its original vision,” Librify CEO and cofounder Joanna Stone Herman said. “We set out to create a book club like reading experience for the digital age and we’re excited to take that next step with Scribd.
